N ow that Noynoy Aquino and Jejomar Binay have been proclaimed and the adrenalin of the Yellow Forces have somewhat simmered, this posting begins the real examination of the truth regarding the crisis of sovereignty in the Philippines.

Garci Noon, e-Garci Naman Ngayon?

Hackers Dangerously Compromise the Integrity

of the 2010 Elections

A Statement for the Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Association (ARBA) for the Solidarity for Sovereignty People’s Congress, Club Filipino, June 3, 2010, by ARBA Spokesperson Ado Paglinawan

E ven before the euphoria for an apparent success of the country’s first automated elections could start, Nick Perlas of the Green Party took exception to the slew of conceding candidates began by Manny Villar of the Nacionalista Party. The reason was simple – Nick Perlas was the first to get wind of another grand design to frustrate the people’s will, this time however electronically, fast and rapid but fraught with fraud.

The first one he spoke to was JC de los Reyes of the Ang Kapatiran Party, who immediately revoked his concession less than 24 hours from announcing it. Reyes told media on May 12, “In as much as I need to honor my word as I conceded the elections for goodwill, we have factual data on hand which unfolded after my concession indicating conclusive irregularities in the numbers. If I do not speak against these new findings, then my party’s integrity as well as my own, will be at risk.”

Joseph Estrada himself found it unbelievable that he would lose in his own hometown of

San Juan, while his kin running for mayor, congressman and senator posted unchallenged winning numbers in San Juan. The former President also lost substantially in the province of Laguna, where his nephew Emilio Ejercito won by a landslide.

This was followed by the announcement of former President Joseph Estrada that he was not conceding the elections because he has proof of widespread fraud: “It’s very easy to accept defeat, but we need to know the truth first. What we are trying to avoid is to have an electronically-determined President.”

P residential candidate Jamby Madrigal then joined Perlas and de los Reyes, while Bangon Pilipinas tandem Eddie Villanueva and Jun Yasay began their parallel fact finding, as the seriousness of the issue escalated with the following developments:

First, the Mar Roxas camp of the Liberal Party kept on accusing his opponent Jejomar Binay, Erap’s running mate, of staging black operations in the provinces to massage his lead in cahoots with Comelec officials.

Second, the emergence of a masked whistleblower now tagged as a “Koala Bear”, making allegations in a CBCP Forum that he was one of seven operators tasked in nationwide vote-rigging operations.

Third, a significant number of losing candidates has surfaced creating a steady momentum of testimonies that they were approached by agents peddling “fraud” packages padding or protecting their votes in exchange for money.

Fourth, a supposed tape of an alleged conversation between Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno and Comelec Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer discussing election fraud has surfaced in the internet.

Fifth, definitely, the server that Smartmatic has provided Congress, precisely for use in the national canvass, has been reported to have already received transmissions good for more than 250 million voters, five times over our nationally-registered number of voters.

Taken together, the foregoing presents a specter of massive and systematic fraud.

On the national front, no less than Erap himself found it unbelievable that he would lose in his own hometown San Juan, while the rest of his family running for mayor, congressman and senator posted unchallenged winning numbers. The former President also lost substantially in the province of Laguna, where his nephew Emilio Ejercito won by a landslide.

In the midst of all this, the Liberal Party whose presidential candidate Noynoy Aquino is leading in the unofficial count has alleged that there are plans by unnamed parties to derail the presidential proclamation. Aquino has asked Congress to rush canvass and proclamation of the President and Vice President, even as it has stood by Mar Roxas, its own vice-presidential candidate’s allegations that organized manipulation of the canvass of his votes are being done by Partido ng Masang Pilipino’s Jejomar Binay.

The LP and the Yellow Forces, together its media patrons ABS-CBN, Philippine Daily Inquirer and Philippine Star, also launched surgical public relations asking foreign governments led by the United States, Spain, China, Australia and the European Union to signal their “recognition” of the victory of Aquino. As we speak, Noynoy could be the first Philippine President proclaimed by the Embassy Row.

It was not only premature and a violation of diplomatic protocol of foreign leaders and diplomats to be congratulating Aquino when the Philippine Congress still had to canvass the votes and proclaim the winners of the presidential and vice presidential elections. It was also a brazen affront to our nationwide sovereignty.

To Be Continued . . .

Editor’s Notes: We decided to post this series written by Ado Paglinawan in the History Section of our website. Why? The Filipino people must learn from history and act to change the exercise of suffrage in their homeland. The second reason is that Mr. Paglinawan is actually documenting—from his perspectives—what happened in the May 10, 2010, national and local elections in the Philippines.

The Filipino people certainly do not want "digital" officials who have been proclaimed under a heavy cloud of conviction that the election was fraught with fraud. That cloud applies to all proclaimed officials.

Why did legislators rush the proclamation when there are two major legal issues involved in the process?

The first was the fact that the Constitution requires that the joint session of Congress be the authorized body to canvass the votes? In the absence of a quorum, legislators delegated to a committee the canvassing process. How can they delegate the authority in the absence of a quorum?

The second issue relates to the fact that the canvassing was based on questionable copies of the Certificates of Canvassing. The law stipulates that canvassing should be based on the electronic returns.

Foreign observers had actual direct exposure to fraud involving changes in the outcome of the elections for certain officials.

Since the entire AES had no controls whatsoever to ensure the integrity of the process, the Filipino people is left with a the option of accepting results based on blind faith.

The Filipino people should agitate for a thorough audit and remedial steps to strengthen the electoral process.

Blindly accepting the election results would mark the perpetuation of "digital democracy". That would be worse than despotic dictatorship.